Prisoners want to complete talks on supplements before holidays

The National Union of Prison Guards (SNCGP) on Tuesday expressed hope of reaching an agreement with the Justice Ministry at a meeting scheduled for Wednesday, stressing the need to urgently conclude negotiations before the holidays.

“We are in a terrible month for negotiations. July is the last month before the holidays, then August comes and the government holidays, then September comes and the negotiations on the state budget begin. We cannot allow this mission add-on or fixed component, as it is now called, to be postponed until after the summer, because we risk being left with nothing,” the SNCGP president said.

In a conversation with Lusa, Frederico Morais acknowledged that he is aware that the value that should be given to prison guards “will never be the same” as that given to the judicial police, but expressed confidence that the government, through Minister Rita Alarcao Judice, “will present a little more” at the meeting scheduled for 12 noon on Wednesday at the Ministry of Justice.

“We believe that the minister will analyse our counter-offer. We don’t know whether she will give a cent more or a cent less, but there are moments in the career of a prison guard that, if there is some solution to these points, then the offer will become even more interesting,” he said.

At the last meeting of the parties, the SNCGP presented the guardianship with a counter-proposal for the grant of an additional payment, which consists of the grant of 200 euros from July, another 100 euros in January 2025, another 100 euros in January 2026 and then the index of the national director of the judicial police at the beginning of 2027.

The union leader also acknowledged some fatigue over the delay in negotiations and warned of problems with promotions, the evaluation system and working conditions.

“These meetings, proposals and counter-proposals regarding the mission allowance (and now the fixed component allowance) are becoming very stressful for the prison guard authorities… We are already 94 days into the government and must postpone discussions on more pressing issues for the prison guards,” he stressed.

Frederico Morais deplored the “unfortunate” comment by Prime Minister Luis Montenegro when he announced that there would be “not a cent more” to the demands of security forces, noting that it seemed “almost like an ultimatum”. On the other hand, he praised the “direct and persistent” stance of the justice minister, despite leaving a warning.

“We believe that we will come to an understanding, because it is very important that the prison guard authority solves this problem,” he said, noting that the union could also take other protest actions: “If we cannot reach an understanding, we will stop the Portuguese prison system (…) It is not even worth threatening to stop until the day of negotiations, but we will always have that option.”

Confronted with his presence in the galleries of the Assembly of the Republic last week following the call by Chega President André Ventura for members of the security forces to mobilize to participate in the discussion of proposals to complement the mission, Frederico Morais reiterated that the SNCGP does not have a party.

“We are non-partisan. The union was there because there were five political parties that were making proposals in the interests of the prison guards to the Assembly of the Republic. Obviously, there was only one party that came to the media. They asked them to be there, but we were not there. We were not there for the party, we were there for the interests of the prison guards,” he stressed.